1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to computers and to communications and, more particularly, to processing data in a communications network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Manipulation of electronic data is important in computer networking and in communications. Often times electronic data must be manipulated for presentation at a client communications device. That is, the electronic data must be changed, formatted, or altered to suit the display characteristics, processing abilities, and/or storage capabilities of the client communications device. A handheld personal data assistant, for example, often requires that bandwidth-intensive electronic data, such as on-demand video, be scaled, color corrected, and/or otherwise manipulated for optimum presentation on the small display of the handheld personal data assistant. Heretofore, however, manipulation of electronic data was usually the responsibility of the client communications device—that is, the client communications device stores and utilizes one or more computer programs to manipulate incoming electronic data for presentation on the client communications device.
Locally manipulating electronic data, however, poses problems. As the electronic data is received, the client communications device must store the electronic data, process/manipulate the electronic data, and present the manipulated electronic data to the user. This process of storing, manipulating, and/or presenting the electronic data, however, often taxes the limited processing and storage capabilities of the client communications device. As both those skilled and unskilled recognize, when the processing and/or storage capabilities of the client communications device are overwhelmed, the audio/video presentation may “stumble” and degrade the user experience. Sometimes the client communications device even experiences a fault or failure when the processing and/or storage capabilities are overwhelmed. There is, accordingly, a need in the art for methods and systems of manipulating electronic data that reduce the need for locally-stored computer programs and that reduce the need for local processing requirements.